Page 74 of Protecting his Heart

“Don’t fucking scare me like that, asshole,” Owen said, and Evan was finally able to hear him over the ringing.

“Huh?” Evan said, having no clue what he was talking about. After all, who had been the one to walk into a building that exploded?

“You blacked out and scared the shit out of me,” Owen said, his expression tightening before relaxing again.

“You’re both as bad as each other. Now shut the hell up and get to the hospital so you can be patched up,” Brett ordered from outside the ambulance.

“Wait!” Owen said, trying to rise but hissing and flopping back again. “There was no one there.”

“We know, Owen. It’s okay,” Brett said.

“No, wait.” Owen closed his eyes and inhaled before continuing. “There was a TV paused on the news. When I opened the door to the room it was in, it was empty. Except for a white piece of paper with #2 on it.”

“That’s great, Owen.”

“How did you get out?” Nick said.

Owen sighed. “I heard the click and knew what it was. I jumped through the window just as the place blew. Unfortunately, it still all came down on me.” He met Evan’s gaze. “I hoped you hadn’t entered the house because I didn’t have time to call a warning.”

“It blasted me away from the house,” Evan mumbled, but unconsciousness was pulling him under. He didn’t hear another thing.

****

The next time he woke, he was in a dimly lit room, and his body hurt like nothing he’d ever felt before. He hissed when hebreathed in too deeply, and a voice from beside him made him jump.

“You finally decided to join me again,” Owen said.

Evan rolled his head to the side, closing his eyes and letting his head settle before opening them again and seeing a sight he’d hadn’t believed he’d ever see again.

“I thought I’d lost you,” he whispered.

“And I you,” Owen replied.

Evan took in what he could see of his boyfriend. A cast on his arm and a bandage at his temple was all he could see. “What’s the damage?” he asked.

“Surprisingly, not much. Broken arm, cuts and bruises. I was able to protect my head from the falling debris, and the bulletproof vest helped protect my torso. How I don’t have a broken leg or something is beyond me.”

“Concussion?” Evan asked, the nurse in him taking over.

Owen shook his head. “No. Unlike someone I know. How are you feeling?”

“Like I’ve been run over by a fire engine and then they backed over me again.”

“Ah, not too bad, then,” Owen joked. Then he sobered. “Are you okay?”

Evan met his gaze. “Not even a little.”

“Me either. No boxing for us for a while.”

“Or push ups.” He paused. “It was a setup, wasn’t it?”

Owen nodded. “Brett came after us when they realised. From what I heard before we got whisked here, Dominic received a text with a picture of an empty room with the TV and the white number on the wall, exactly what I saw when I walked into that room. They put two and two together and realised it was a setup.”

“Dr Wallis set us up?”

Owen shrugged. “We’re not sure yet. That number two was exactly the same that had been thrown on Dominic when he was shot and left for dead last year, remember? But he had a number one.”

Evan did remember. Owen had called Evan back from Italy to help him cheer Dominic up after everything that had been happening to him, and it was pure luck he’d still been there when Randall had been kidnapped and Dominic had gone off half-cocked to rescue him. Evan winced when he realised they’d done exactly what Dominic had done, and the result had almost been worse.

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